The Fire Alarm
by holmes-osapien
Summary: The fire alarm goes off at 3am and Molly is more than a little bit cold!


Out of all the nights the fire alarm could have gone off, it had to be the night Sherlock Holmes finally smuggled a huge microscope into his dorm room. For the past month he had been admiring the discarded microscope in the bio lab at the university. Prior to a month ago, the biology department received funding for a whole set of new microscopes, leaving Sherlock with the perfect chance to 'borrow' the old one. After hauling the object up three flights of stairs and nearly five hours later of disturbing his flat, he had his miniature lab fully functional and was well under way in filling out his science journal with extravagant notes on osmosis. He worked late into the night and barely noticed the time had drawn closer to 3am. At least that was until he was jerked out of his mind palace by the shrill sound of the fire alarm. He groaned out loud as the irritating noise droned on, and frowned deeply as he realised he would have to leave his experiment unattended. Sherlock rose sluggishly to his feet and traipsed over to the sofa where he had thrown his worn-out black converse when he got home from his last lecture of the day. Pulling them on his feet he realised he was only in his tracksuit bottoms and shoes, and therefore decided it would be a little more decent to pull on a shirt before lining up on the field.

"JOHN!" Sherlock yelled down the hall way of his dorm room. His flat mate John Watson- the doctor in training- trudged from his room and eyed Sherlock suspiciously. "If you set off this fire alarm, I'm going to strangle you."

Sherlock looked offended, "It wasn't me this time! It was probably Anderson shagging Donovan against a wall who caught it with his elbow." John sniggered whilst pulling on his own shoes, "Come on. The sooner we get out there, the sooner we can come back in." The pair made their way out into the brisk atmosphere of the night and lined up in their house groups. Both Sherlock and John were in WhiteKnights House and therefore joined said line. It was mandatory to line up in register order, meaning John was last in the line and Sherlock was towards the front. Sherlock stood with his arms folded firmly over his chest to protect himself somewhat from the cold. He was too preoccupied by his thoughts to at first notice his timid lab partner Molly Hooper slip past him and line up behind him. Sherlock was suddenly made aware of her presence by the chattering of her teeth and the waft of her sweet smelling shower gel past his nose. He turned to face her and was shocked by her appearance. The small woman of 20 was dripping wet just as if she had come fresh out of the shower. In her haste to dress for assembly she had pulled a tight tank top over her torso without a bra for support and pulled on a pair of knee length jogging bottoms. Molly had no jacket and was frantically clutching her arms against the cold. Her hair was still damp and dripped down her shoulders and back, but more of a concern to Sherlock, was the vigorous shuddering of her body. She was freezing.

Without hesitation he slackened his arms and pulled her into a tight embrace. Sherlock was never one for bold physical contact and hated most people who interacted with him. But Molly, just like John, was different to everyone else. Over the four years they had known each other, Sherlock had grown to care for her deeply and John would even say love her. She shared a passion for science and puzzles as well as offering kindness and patience to Sherlock's somewhat questionable hobbies. He acknowledged this and knew that he should act on his feelings, but being so wrapped up in his awkwardness and arrogance was unable to express his emotions. But tonight it seemed that he might be able to tell her without insulting her as he had done so many times before. To start with both Sherlock and Molly froze at Sherlock's abruptness, but soon Molly began to appreciate the warmth and embraced Sherlock back. For a moment they remained silent until Sherlocks pressing need to announce he had deduced why she had been taking a shower at 3am got the better of him. "Good idea trying to shower at ungodly hours just to get your share of the hot water." He muttered into her damp hair.

"Hmph." She responded, "Wasn't that good of an idea tonight… Why do you smell of pond water?" She asked.

"Experiment." He mumbled. They remained in their position until they were registered and dismissed. When told they could return to their rooms, Sherlock kept one arm around Molly as he escorted her back to her room. When arriving, they stopped awkwardly and looked at one and other. The silence lingered until Molly bravely, reached up on her tiptoes to kiss Sherlock on the cheek. He remained stunned staring down at her. She turned away after bidding him goodnight and opened her door.

"Wait!" Sherlock exclaimed, reaching out to grab her wrist. She turned back to face him. "I…" He began. She nodded at him encouragingly. "I…Have feelings for you!" Sherlock blurted out, going red in the face. Molly giggled softly before pulling him into one of her pleasant hugs and whispering in his ear, "I know… Mary and John told me ages ago." He pulled back to frown at her.

"So you just liked watching me struggle to ask you out?" He said with mock anger.

"Yep, it was adorable watching you get all flustered!" She blushed, "So how about that date then? Tomorrow- well later this morning we could go for coffee…?" She asked, looking down.

"Black, two sugars please." Sherlock responded before leaning down to peck her on the lips. "Good Night, Molly Hooper." He hummed as he walked away from her with a bounce in his step.

FIN. -Jess

(I hope you guys liked this! Probably not my best since I'm trying to remember how to write again, but hey-ho!)


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